Leovegildo Mercado …charged with commercial promotion of marijuana and other offenses

Media Release

An 81-year-old Ka’u man is in police custody on drug and weapons charges in connection with a search warrant police served Thursday (September 11) in Pahala.

Investigators from the Vice Section in Kona executed the search warrant on a Pakalana Street home at 3:50 p.m. Thursday. Eighty-one-year-old Leovegildo Mercado and 64-year-old Bernardino Mercado were arrested for commercial promotion of marijuana after officers recovered 506 marijuana plants, 4.9 pounds of dried marijuana, two rifles, a handgun and ammunition. Police also seized almost $44,000 in cash for forfeiture.

Leovegildo Mercado was charged Friday (September 12) with three counts of commercial promotion of marijuana, one count of promoting a detrimental drug and six firearms violations. His bail was set at $10,700. He remains in the Kona police cellblock.